


Super High-school Level Hopelessness

by Ziddia



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-15
Updated: 2013-06-07
Packaged: 2017-12-11 22:31:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/803973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ziddia/pseuds/Ziddia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naegi represents their hope, their only chance at escape from this hellhole of a school.</p><p>If he dies in the early stages, what kind of effect does this have on the rest of them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Murder

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second and hopefully final draft of SHSLH.
> 
> Some background info: I originally got this from a prompt on the kink meme. Although I started writing with somewhat of a plan, holes started showing not long into the trial (I never published the Trial chapters on the first draft because it got too messy).
> 
> I completely redid a lot of the information in the early chapter for this second release, and hopefully, I'll be more satisfied with my work this time round.
> 
> Don't expect incredible writing please!

"Well then... Why don't you stay in my room?"

Maizono gasped lightly, her face turning pink. "B-but- the two of us, in the same room?!"

Naegi quickly switched gears, in an attempt to steer the conversation back to safety. "Ah! I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking! It's the truth! I didn’t notice! I wasn’t trying anything dubious or anything!" It was the truth, of course. How could he even think of betraying Maizono's trust like that?

Maizono pointed her gaze at the ground, her cheeks still slightly flushed. "Well, it's not like I can't stand the idea..." she said, keeping her eyes firmly focused on the floor. "...actually, I suppose I'm not really opposed to the idea at all..."

Naegi gulped, his own cheeks turning a little red.

"Actually, Naegi-kun, I think I'd like to take you up on your offer. I'm sure I can sleep on the floor, or something. Anything is better than sleeping alone in my room..." Maizono shivered visibly. Naegi felt an almost paternal feeling rush through his body - an instinctive need to protect this helpless girl.

"Well, if you're sure..." he said, trying to take charge. "Feel free to take the bed. I want to make sure you're as comfortable as you can be while you stay with me!"

She beamed at him, and he smiled back easily. "Thanks a lot, Naegi-kun!"

It wasn't long before she slipped into the bed. Night Time was already in progress, so they figured they should get some sleep straight away. "Goodnight!" she said cheerfully, as Naegi turned out the lights. He had made himself a bed from spare clothes, and, while it wasn't nearly as comfortable as his actual bed, it was definitely worth it to hear Maizono so cheerful - a stark contrast to the fear of before.

He laid down on the pile of clothes, and quickly drifted into sleep.

He was awoken what felt like moments later by a panicked Maizono. "N... Naegi-kun... The door...!" she said, her voice high-pitched. She was trembling again.

Naegi stood up quickly. "What happened? Did someone get through?" he asked, concerned. If someone had broken in and done something-!

She shook her head. "It was just the same as before - just the same as in my room! Somebody tried to break in - the rattling door handle - just like before - they must know I shifted rooms! That's the only way I can explain it!"

Naegi could hear her voice rapidly becoming hysterical, so he patted her head gently. "Don't worry, Maizono-san! It's not an issue, since I'm here to help. Right?"

Her shaking slowly subsided under the guidance of his hand. "Naegi-kun... Could you please... H-hold me? Just until I fall asleep?" she asked, averting her gaze again.

Naegi froze, giving himself a moment to process her words. It was... Just like holding a child until they slept, right?

Maizono nodded. "Just like a child."

"How did you know that?!"

"I can read minds...

"Just kidding. I just have good intuition."

Naegi was doubting that more and more every time she said that line. "A-Alright, then. I can... Hold you."

Silently, the two of them move back to the bed. It's not made for two, so it would be a tight fit. As he lay down, Naegi could feel Maizono move closer to him, curling up against his stomach. Almost involuntarily, his arm fell over her body, protecting her from harm.

Her scent attacked his nose; her breath tickled his ear. Sleep was impossible in such conditions.

Her head rose to his ear, and he felt his heartbeat quicken as she whispered in his ear. "...Naegi-kun..."

"Yes, Maizono-san?" His own voice was trembling more than hers was. To be in such a situation, despite the circumstances... "What's wrong?"

"No matter what happens in this place... We're good friends now, right...?"

Her tone of voice concerned him a little. "Of course. We're definitely good friends!"

"...Naegi-kun... Please..."

His heart quickened, as she moved even closer, her head resting on his shoulder now, one arm pressed against his side.

"...please... Forgive me..."

He didn't even have a second to react, as the hand that was pressed tight against his side suddenly slammed down into his ribcage. Pain shot through his body, and he fell out of the bed with a thud.

Looking at his side, he realized what had happened - Maizono had not just hit him with her hand. She had stabbed him, with something she had concealed by their closeness.

That something was the knife, which was clearly visible in her right hand as she leapt over the bed and towards him. Gasping, he crawled backwards towards the door, but she was far faster. She tackled him, and they rolled until they hit the wall.

Maizono was the first to her feet. Still grasping the knife, she thrust it forward. Naegi felt the pain of the knife entering his body, and he sobbed from the intensity of it. Pushing his back up against the wall, she lifted the knife to attack again, but froze for a moment as Naegi looked up at her.

"Why... Maizono... san..." he said, taking long, painful breaths between each word.

"Why... You say?" she repeated. In an instant, her voice turned furious. "You want to know why I'm killing you? How about you look at the video the bear gave me!" Twisting her mouth into a snarl, she brought down the knife, and Naegi whimpered as his side was stabbed again.

"I dunno what you got on your video, but mine was pretty difficult to deal with!" she shouted, and stabbed again. Naegi shuddered, unable to even cry out anymore.

"If you were in an idol group, and you saw the group completely finished - you saw your friends fucking _dead_ \- what would you do about it, Naegi-kun? If you had one opportunity to save your friends, then what would you do?!"

Her hand stabbed downwards again, but Naegi didn't react at all.

The reality of the situation hit her all at once, and she dropped the knife.

"Oh my God," she murmured, as she looked at Naegi's body. "What... Have I done..."

Suddenly, there was a banging noise coming from the door. Maizono looked towards the door, still slightly out of touch with reality.

"...is someone... there...?" she whispered, looking towards the door.

A person stepped around the corner. "Surprise, Maizono-san."

Maizono never even had the opportunity to scream, as the newcomer swung a hammer with energies strength, and shattered her skull between it and the wall.

The newcomer inspected the hammer for a moment. "This... Will need cleaning." they murmured, as they turned and left the room.


	2. Revelations

Kirigiri was awoken the morning it happened by an incredibly loud scream. She winced as she pushed herself up and out of her bed; it was unfortunate that the rooms were only soundproofed on the inside.

She walked out the door slowly as she pulled on her jacket and straightened her clothes, but as she looked across the hall and saw Asahina on her knees in front of an opened door, she stopped taking her time and hurried over to the girl.

"Asahina-san? Is something the matter?" she asked, while taking quick look at the door. It looked to be Naegi's room; as she glanced inside, she could see a splatter of blood. She grimaced internally, already knowing that something terrible had happened.

Forcibly moving Asahina aside, Kirigiri moved through the doorway, cautious not to disturb anything that looked like evidence.

The scene that she was met with was even worse than what she had pictured.

What immediately caught her eye as she entered the room was all the blood - there was a large amount of blood splattered across the wall, a trail of it across the room, and a pool of it against the wall.

In the center of this pool was the bodies.

It looked to Kirigiri as though Naegi had suffered a horribly painful death. His chest and arm were both covered in what looked to be stab wounds, and there was blood on his chest from where he had coughed it up. Although he had many wounds, none of them were fatal; it could have taken him a long time to die.

In his case, the murder weapon was clear. A long knife, still covered in now-dried blood, lay less than a meter away. It looked to be just the right length to have pierced poor Naegi's body.

The cause of death for Maizono, the second corpse of the crime, was less obvious, however.

At first glance, it was difficult to even tell the cause of death, let alone the murder weapon. She was lying on the ground, her head almost laying on Naegi's lap. When the head in question was inspected a little more closely, however, the reason for her premature departure from this earth became clear: something had struck her skull with enough force to shatter it.

Judging by the bloodstains around half a meter above Naegi's head, it was easy to conclude that something heavy had sandwiched her head between it and the wall, and this trauma was enough to kill her instantly. Kirigiri could almost reconstruct the scene in her minds' eye: for some reason, Maizono was leaning over the befallen Naegi, when the killer broke into the room and committed the act.

This, of course, raised the question of why. What was the motive? An obvious motive was the video, but the only person who seemed affected by that was Maizono. Outward emotions hardly counted as evidence, however; Kirigiri knew that well, as someone who commonly masked their own emotions and kept herself from showing too much expression.

There was also the question of who: who could possibly fit the criteria for this killing? They would have to be intelligent - cunning enough to kill Naegi, lure Maizono in, and kill her as well. They would need the physical strength to crush Maizono's skull like it had been, and they would need the object to commit the act with. Although the handle of the knife might have sufficed for a blow to the head, there was no blood on the hilt of the knife, which seemed to imply that two different weapons were used.

As she thought about this, Kirigiri felt someone approach her from behind. She turned and watched Togami walk in, crossing his arms as he stopped about half a meter from Maizono's corpse. He quickly surveyed the scene, before turning to Kirigiri and saying, "it's odd, isn't it? I never thought any of the idiots in this school would have the guts to kill off a stranger."

Kirigiri couldn't even shrug. Stranger things had happened in this world.

All of a sudden, there was a dinging sound, and the speaker system crackled into life. The sugary-sweet voice of the bear came over the loudspeaker. "A body has been found!" it proclaimed, an almost pleased tone in its voice. "The school trial will start in just a few hours. Before then, I hope that all of you bastards will come to the gymnasium, so that I can explain the trial to you all!"

***

Even though they were meant to be going to the gym, Kirigiri called a meeting with all the students before anyone had the opportunity to leave. She stood at the head of a large table in the cafeteria, as everyone watched her, waiting for the announcement.

There was an underlying current of anxiety; 'Naegi and Maizono are both missing', she saw Yamada say to Celes. 'Which one of them is the dead one?'

Kirigiri cleared her throat. "As you all have heard over the speakers, a body has been found." A shiver ran through the students; although they had all heard the announcement, many of them may have doubted that it was true.

She continued. "It's my duty and my regret to tell you all that late last night or early this morning, Sayaka Maizono and Makoto Naegi became the first victims of our new high-school life of killing."

Silence, as they looked at one another. It wasn't just one death - this new life had been started off with a bang. This new life had been started with a huge upset. Only two days in, and they were down to 13 students.

There was a slam as Hagakure slapped the table. "That was a good joke, Kirigiri-san!" he said, his voice a little higher-pitched than normal. "There's no way Naegi-chi's dead, though, y'know? Naegi isn't the type of guy to get knocked off like that! Even though it hasn't been that long, I feel like I know the guy-"

As he spoke, he flailed his arms, and one of his arms nudged his crystal ball, which was sitting on the table. It fell to the ground and shattered, breaking into thousands of tiny pieces. Hagakure stared after it for a moment.

"I paid good money for that," he whispered. Kirigiri took the opportunity to speak.

"No matter what kind of ideas you thought you had, it's an undeniable fact that the two of them are dead. I hope that you'll all come to terms with this soon. That will be all."

Kirigiri left the table in silence, heading towards the gym, as Togami and, moments later, Fukawa followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each trial will have the following structure:
> 
> 1 intro chapter  
> 2 investigation chapters  
> 2 trial chapters
> 
> The roles of these are to introduce, investigate, and test our theories. Overall, that's 5 chapters per trial.


	3. Search

"Damn it..." muttered Leon, as he checked Enoshima for a pulse. Finding nothing, he gently closed her eyes, perhaps hoping to help her find peace after such a violent, bloody end.

The mood was grave. They had just been called to the gym, to discuss the upcoming school trial with the bear. After learning the rules of the trial, and the punishment if they failed to find the hidden killer, Enoshima had become enraged.

And then, after she had rushed it and pinned it to the ground, it had brought spears out of the walls, and had killed her.

Mondo punched a wall. "What the hell's going on here?" he shouted, and he punched it again. "First Naegi and Maizono, now Enoshima! We're three people down after just two days! How the hell are we ever supposed to get out of here if people just keep on dying?"

Yamada stood to the side, with his arms crossed, a deep look on his face. "Perhaps this... Is the turn of the Black-and-white Witch...?" he murmured. A moment later, he yelped, as Celes hit him on the arm.

Kirigiri pulled out her electronic organizer and scanned through it as the others lamented the loss of one of their own. Just as Monobear had said, there was a file called the Monobear File on it; within the document was some essential information, such as the time and the cause of death.

Concluding that, with the trial approaching and their lives on the line, there was no point in waiting around any longer, she turned and headed out of the room. Moments later, two pairs of footsteps follow her; although even he was shaken by the brutality of Enoshima's murder, Togami seemed to understand what she was doing. Close behind him was Fukawa, who kept her eyes firmly focused on his back.

"I suppose you've read up on the file already, if you're visiting Naegi's room as well, Togami-kun?" said Kirigiri. Togami nodded, and pulled out his organizer, re-reading it quickly.

"Victim, Makoto Naegi. Cause of death, loss of blood via multiple stab wounds. Time of death, late night or early morning. Victim, Sayaka Maizono. Cause of death, a fractured skull and destruction of her brain. Time of death, early morning, very shortly after Makoto Naegi. Both victims were killed in Makoto Naegi's private room," he said, quickly reading off the information.

"Monobear File #1" was added to your notes.

Kirigiri nodded. "I find it somewhat interesting that Monobear provided us with so much information about the time, place, and cause, but almost nothing about the murder weapon. I'd guess that the idea was to conceal it from us, to hide some kind of vital evidence."

She stopped talking as they approached Naegi's door. Walking through the still-open doorway, the two of them quickly moved towards the crime scene. Fukawa stayed outside, due to an aversion to blood; as soon as she looked through the door and saw the small amount of blood that could be seen through the doorway, she staggered and fell against the wall.

The scene was still just as odd as it was the last time she was here. For Maizono to collapse in such an odd position in Naegi's lap, she would have had to be practically crawling over him - an unusual thing to do when a murderer was in the room. Additionally, rather than the back and front of her head being smashed in, as would be expected if she had been checking for breath or a pulse on Naegi's body while facing him, the side of her head had been broken, likely meaning that she was looking away from him.

"Maizono's Positioning" was added to your notes.

Togami called her towards the bed, and she moves there quickly. There were stains of blood across the sheets - too much for a blood nose or a period leak. There was no evidence of a weapon around the sheets, so it was possible that the initial attack had been committed while the two of them were sleeping, and the attacker had finished Naegi off when he had collapsed against the wall his corpse was now laying against.

Looking near his corpse, Kirigiri found a knife close to his foot; although it looked as thought it could have been the weapon used to murder Naegi, as blood was covering its blade, the hilt of the knife was spotless.

"Bloody Knife" was added to your notes.

There was a sudden shout from outside, and Kirigiri quickly moved there, leaving Togami to investigate a little more.

"Look at the door... I think there's something off about the door... But I know what you're thinking, what do I know, I'm a book girl, not a door girl," muttered Fukawa, her helpful tip quickly turning into a statement of self-hatred.

Inspecting the door again, Kirigiri noticed something that she should have noticed the first time: although it had been fairly well replaced, the door handle had been removed at some point in the past - undoubtedly the recent past, seeing as all the rooms had been in perfect shape on their arrival. She pulled it out. It was broken at the base, as though some huge force had struck it.

"An immense amount of strength and the right tool would be needed to smash a doorknob like this," said Togami, confirming her thoughts as he walked back outside. "I think that the only tool you could use to smash something like that would be a hammer, or a small axe. Of course, that doesn't really help, because every student received a tool kit with a hammer enclosed from Monobear anyway."

"Togami's Testimony" was added to your notes.  
"Broken Lock" was added to your notes.

Kirigiri eyed him for a moment, as she considered telling him that the girls had been given sewing kits rather than hammers; eventually she just turned back to the body. Keeping her cards close to her chest was something she was quite good at, and the information on the sewing kits could come in handy if there was ever another murder.

Turning back to Naegi's body, she posed a question to him. "How do you think that Maizono ended up laying across Naegi like this?"

He considered it for a moment. "I'd never really thought about it. Perhaps, they had been huddling together? No, then she would be holding him as she fell..." He trailed off as he considered the possibilities.

"My thoughts at the moment are based around the idea that Naegi was killed first, and that this caused some kind of reaction in Maizono. We can see that Maizono was kneeling over Naegi's body at the time of her death, and likely at the time of her own death; there are very few reasons this could happen. My guess is that Naegi was killed by some outside force, and then the assailant killed her as she wept for him."

Togami tapped the side of his chin. "That almost works - but then, where does the knife factor in? It was clearly used to murder Naegi. If Naegi had been murdered in a way that would cause Maizono to cry rather than run, it would have to be a way in which she couldn't see the attacker. If a knife was involved, she would have seen the attacker and ran."

Kirigiri sighed to herself. "There's still many possibilities, and we don't have enough time to review them all. I guess we should hope the others have found something."

There was a dinging sound, and Monobear came over the announcements, telling them that the trial was about to begin. They hurried to the elevators, with the feeling that they hadn't discovered enough.

***

When they had entered the school mere days ago, they had been fifteen children full of hopes, dreams, and happiness. Everyone had been dedicated to trying their best in their own fields. They had all been riding on the high of being accepted to such a prestigious school.

Now, their hope was dead, along with the bodies of the three people who represented it. As their numbers had dwindled, so had their morale, as was evident when they entered the elevator. There was a gloomy atmosphere; the happiness of a couple days ago was gone.

Monobear grinned and said, "going down!" in a very cheery voice. Taking a spot at the back of the elevator, Kirigiri thought.

This trial would be the end of at least one person. If they couldn't find the killer of two of their 'inmates', they would all perish. And then the murderer would walk free.

How could she possibly explain it? There was lots of evidence, but whenever she posed a theory to herself that satisfied most of the evidence, there was one piece of proof which contradicted her theories.

How could she solve it, what explanation could there be?

***

Togami kept his eyes on the ground, arms crossed. Despite the stillness of his body, his mind was whirling.

Together, he and Kirigiri had gathered the evidence - evidence which he was convinced pointed towards one person. However, just as Kirigiri could hide things from him, he was more than capable of hiding his ideas.

Within only two or three days in this hell, one of their fellow players in this game had become an enemy - a murderer. Someone had betrayed them. For what? The contents of that video, of course. What better motive could there be, than the deaths and disappearings of our own families, friends, and co-workers?

Everyone else kept to their thoughts as well; Yamada thought of the testimonies he had procured from the others, Fukawa thought of the small amounts of information she had gleaned from Togami and Kirigiri's conversation. Most of them felt hatred - hatred for the bear, who had forced them into this, hatred for the murderer who cut two lives so short. A single person felt hope - hope that their lie would not be discovered.

The elevator hit the bottom.

EVIDENCE GOING INTO THE TRIAL  
Monobear File #1: A file which contains details on the time and cause of death. Kirigiri finds it suspiciously absent of any details regarding the murder weapon, but this fact isn't solid enough to use as proof itself.

Maizono's Positioning: The way that Maizono is laying in Naegi's lap is unusual. It is also odd that the side of her head was crushed rather than the back of it, as it should have been if she was looking at his face or checking for a pulse.

Bloody Knife: Although this knife was clearly used to murder Naegi, as indicated by the multiple stab wounds and the blood coating the blade, there is almost no blood on the hilt, which is the only viable way for a knife to have crushed Maizono's head. Was a different weapon used in her murder? Why?

Togami's Testimony: The lock was shattered, and Togami states that every student (to his knowledge) received a tool kit, including a hammer, in their room. We know that that really only applies to every male student. Does this narrow the suspect list?

Broken Lock: The lock to Naegi's rooms is broken. Could the aforementioned hammer have been the weapon they used to break it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to move towards each trial slightly faster in this new writing of the fic because the old fic was very slow around the investigation portions and became painful to write. This is still fun to write, and so I'm making that change.
> 
> As a side note, I don't have a dedicated editor, and I do editing of my works myself, so if you see any major issues in this fic, please point them out for me, and I'll make the change.


	4. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note, any text that is written in gold is the equivalent of an evidence bullet - anything that is written in gold is an undeniable piece of evidence (such as the Monobear File, or the blood on the sheets). The information written in gold is used by Kirigiri to destroy others' theories and pose her own, just like the evidence bullets were used in the game. (I might remove this later, depending on how well it works for me).
> 
> Also, the school trials are very fast-paced in the game, and I'm not confident I managed to reach the same level of speed. Sorry if that's the case.

Everyone shuffled into the little courtroom, following Monobear's orders to stand behind their respective lecterns. As she looked around the room, Kirigiri couldn't help but notice that, if each person in the room was a bullet, then the court would be almost exactly like the chamber of a gun.

She also inevitably noticed the signposts - three wooden posts, standing in place of Naegi, Maizono, and Junko. The signs bore photographs of the deceased, with a large, red X covering them. For a moment, she felt a twinge of anger at this disrespect for the dead, but she forced it out of her mind; the trial was about to begin, and if she didn't focus, she might not be able to find the killer and save her classmates.

Soon after everyone reached their stands and stood behind them, Monobear appeared at the front of them, sitting in its own little stand, like a judge. "Welcome, everyone!" it said, grinning happily. "I hope that you've all come prepared - after all, you all know what happens if you fail...!" It laughed again, as everyone looked around nervously, worried about the consequences of their failure.

"Before we start, I'd like to tell you all the rules. We will have a grand debate, and at the end of this battle of wits, you'll vote for who you think is the culprit. If you vote right, then you'll all survive and the culprit alone will be executed. But, if your votes are wrong..." The cruel grin widened, and it covered its mouth with a paw. "The culprit alone will walk free, and all the rest of you will die!"

Kirigiri ignored the bear, forcing any anxiety she felt back into her chest. "Can we begin the trial now, perhaps?" she suggested, and the trial's judge pouted, seemingly upset that no one was joining it in its enjoyment of their situation.

"Alright, then. If you're in such a hurry..." it replied, and it tapped its hand on the stand. "I'd like you to start with a recount of the crime. If you bastards can't even get that right, then we might have some problems!" It laughed again, and it waved its paw, opening the discussion to the group of students.

Ishimaru pointed at nobody in particular. "All right, everybody!" he shouted. "I'll start us off! I'm positive I have the details right for this!"

"It began slightly before midnight last night. For an unknown reason, Sayaka-san and Naegi-kun were sharing a room. It's likely that they were asleep at the time of the murder. At this time, an unknown assailant burst into the room and killed Naegi-kun. A few moments later, Sayaka-san died by his side."

Yamada picked the story up. "While Maizono Sayaka-dono died from a single, heavy blow to the head, Naegi Makoto-dono suffered multiple stab wounds to his chest and arms. Even though Naegi Makoto-dono's wounds are multiple, there are no signs of a struggle. We know all of what was said so far from the Monobear File, but anything from this point on would be guesswork."

Kirigiri took a moment to think about what he had said, then held up a hand, making him stop. "There's something odd about what you just said, Yamada-kun," she said quietly. "You claim that there was no sign of a struggle in Naegi's room - however, there is clearly blood on his bedsheets!"

"Is it at all possible that one of them had been suffering a blood nose, or some other ailment?" asked Sakura.

"The amount of blood was fairly substantial. Togami-kun was there to see the quantity. It was definitely more than a common malady could cause."

Yamada returned to recounting the story. "Then, I suppose there were signs of a struggle, hidden slightly deeper than most of us chose to look... Regardless, that's all that we know at this point, without some guessing or detective work."

Ishimaru pointed at Togami. "Togami-kun! Maybe you can help us out with this predicament! What could have been the murder weapon?"

A sneer came to Togami's face, as though the question was below him. "I think that that's fairly clear. We found a knife near Naegi - it was covered in blood, and he has a huge number of stab wounds, so it's fairly obvious that that was used to finish him off."

"However, that's hardly sufficient to explain Maizono's death, right?" asked Kirigiri. "There's no way that knife could have been used to kill her. There was no blood on the hilt, and the blade couldn't have made such a large hole in her skull."

Ishimaru frowned, as he considered her statement. "I suppose you might be right on that point. However, that doesn't change the fact that we've now established a setting of sorts for this crime!"

Kirigiri frowned. Despite his sureness, there were many things that didn't add up. "There's a couple of points that are bothering me here. For a first point, how did the killer obtain the knife, and from where?"

"Maybe they brought it in with them?" said Leon. "Or maybe they found it in the school in some room. After all, who knows what's going on in this school! Monobear might've left it out for some student on purpose!"

Kirigiri's mouth twisted downwards. "It's almost impossible to disprove a theory like that. After all, I can't say that I checked everywhere when I explored the school. However, I can say that I have looked through every room available to us on this floor, and I think that it's unlikely I would have missed a potential weapon."

Suddenly, Asahina's eyes lit up. "Ah! I remember!" she said. "I was waiting in the kitchen until Night Time hit, alongside Mondo-kun and Celes-san. I was a little hungry, so I was looking for some food. Anyway, I remember noticing as I left that there was a knife missing from the rack!"

"Did you see anybody entering or leaving the kitchen while you were in it? Could either Mondo-kun or Celes-san have take the knife?" replied Kirigiri, pressing for evidence.

"No, Mondo-kun and Celes-san are both clear for that... I was able to see them the whole time, and I'm positive none of them touched the knives. As for visitors... Maizono-san came by about half an hour before I was going to leave, and Chihiro-san ate with us maybe an hour before then. Aside from them, nobody else stepped foot in the kitchen while I was there."

Kirigiri's mind whirled as a theory began to form. "That's an interesting piece of evidence; thankyou for that. I'll leave that question alone for now. A second point which bothers me is that Naegi and Maizono were found in the same room. Why were they in the same room? It makes very little sense."

Fukawa spoke up. "I think, maybe..." She flushed as everyone turned to her. "Don't laugh at me if its wrong! I don't normally try this detective thing, even in my writing!"

Her gaze shifted to Kirigiri, her lips pointing downwards. "I was thinking, that maybe this theory works... I think that Naegi-kun was almost certainly having sexual relations with Maizono-san."

Ishimaru cut her off. "There's no way Naegi-kun was some kind of womanizer! That boy was far too pure for those kinds of habits!"

She giggled, and Ishimaru looked away uncomfortably. "Are you sure? After all, Naegi-kun and Maizono-san died on the floor, less than a foot from each other. My theory is this: Naegi seduced Maizono and invited her to his room! However, as they were about to get down to business, the killer bursts in! Maizono dies with her body draping Naegi's! Case closed!" She coughed and looked downwards, as though suddenly realizing that she'd been speaking so certainly. Everyone else stares at her, shocked at this outrageous, and yet perfectly valid theory.

Kirigiri placed her hand on her chin. "Your theory is sound, with the evidence you've been shown so far. However, I have evidence that can break your theory apart!"

"Please, show me... If my theory really is an awful one..." she replied quietly.

"Listen to me, everyone. Your theory states that Maizono died while she and Naegi were on the floor. However, this doesn't fit one piece of evidence - namely, the blood spots we found on the sheets. If they had been preparing to have sex while on the floor, there's no reason that any blood could have reached the sheets!"

Fukawa spoke again, her voice trembling slightly. "Isn't it possible that Maizono-san's blood reached the sheets after she was killed?"

Kirigiri shook her head. "It's obviously impossible; if that had happened, the blood would have been on more than just the sheets."

Fukawa moved back, defeated, and looking slightly upset. Meanwhile, Mondo pointed at Kirigiri, shouting. "But if Naegi didn't invite her into his room to have sex with her, then why were they in the same room? It's an impossible situation! You can't explain it with any evidence!"

"You've assumed that Naegi invited Maizono into his room, for whatever reason. However, you're looking at the situation completely reversed! In reality, the only way this situation can make sense is if Maizono had asked Naegi to let her stay with him for the night."

Ishimaru scratched his head. "But, why would Maizono-san do that? It would be extremely dangerous to stay in a strangers' room even in normal conditions. When it comes to this school life of mutual killing, that act is insanity!"

Kirigiri smirked. "See, Ishimaru-kun? You've found the answer right there - an important detail that everyone so far has seemed to miss! Remember - this is our high school life of MUTUAL KILLING."

As she stressed the last two words, Fukawa gasped, understanding. Ishimaru still looked lost.

"You still don't understand? Here, let me spell it out for you."

At this, she pointed at Monobear.

"The person who killed Makoto Naegi was Sayaka Maizono."


End file.
